North Carolina's Sylvester Williams (92) rushes Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (5) for a sack during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Chapel Hill, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011. North Carolina won 14-7. (Gerry Broome, The Associated Press)

As a raw, hulking senior at Jefferson City High School in central Missouri, Sylvester Williams weighed more than 300 pounds but couldn't crack the football team's starting lineup. Given that he was second-string defensive lineman playing his first season of organized football, no one expected what occurred during a routine fall practice.

Certainly not Jefferson City coach Ted LePage, who ran his practices with the precision of a Swiss watch.

"Suddenly, Sly came up to me and said, 'Coach, can you stop practice? I don't like how things are going. I want to talk to the guys,' " LePage recalled. "Now, I never stopped practice, not for anything. But I let him talk. And he gave the most passionate speech I've ever heard from a high school kid. Seriously, it brought tears to my eyes."

Fast forward to Friday afternoon, when the 315-pound defensive tackle was introduced as the Broncos' first-round pick in the NFL draft.

Asked about that speech, Williams said: "I'm a competitor, that's my biggest thing. I saw that we weren't giving it our all. I was just a backup, but I was giving it everything I had. I wanted this so much, and when I saw some guys who weren't giving everything, I had to say something. I finally had the guts to stand up and say something, but the guys respected me for that."

That speech came after some dark, confusing times.

In his first two years of high school, the classroom was an afterthought. Williams spent his time and energy working at Backyard Burgers and taking the late-night shift at Taco Bell, trying to make some money so he could buy a 1987 Cutlass Supreme. He eventually was kicked out of school, and off the basketball team, twice, for poor attendance.

LePage and defensive coordinator Mark Thomas convinced Williams to return to school and play football. Williams fell in love with the game, the physical contact and camaraderie.

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But after his senior year, he didn't have enough self-confidence to believe he could go to college, earn a degree and keep playing football. So, the day after graduation, the 19-year-old Williams quit Taco Bell and began working at Walmart. Then he quit Walmart and started working at the Modine Manufacturing Co., for $400 a week.

The money was OK, but assembling radiators was not his life's dream. He felt that every time he stood on the line for an eight-hour shift.

"I saw people who had worked in the factory for 30 or 40 years," Williams said. "There's nothing wrong with that, but I just couldn't see myself doing that for my whole life. I knew that was as high as I was going to go with just a high school diploma."

"I thought I'd give it a try"

Williams' father, Sylvester Williams Sr., who had played nose guard for Normandy High in St. Louis, desperately wanted more for his son.

"I just knew there was more possible in his life," his father said.

So did his son, but it wasn't until he was sitting on the couch watching college football on a Saturday morning the fall after he graduated from high school that Williams realized how much he missed football. He started thinking that maybe he could compete at the next level.

"I was watching college football and some of the guys I would see were guys that were 6-3, 300 pounds, 6-2 or 6-1," he said. "I realized they were around the same size and height as me. I realized I had an opportunity to play and I thought I had the ability, so I thought I'd give it a try."

With the help of his father, and Andre Salmon, a teacher and confidant from high school, Williams decided to change his life. He made a five-hour drive from his Missouri home to Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College. He arrived out of the blue to talk to Coffeyville coach Darian Dulin, who was so unimpressed with game tape from Williams' one season of high school that he told him not to waste his time driving over.

Starring for the Tar Heels

Once on campus, Dulin became intrigued by Williams' size and allowed him to walk on. He had ballooned to 370 pounds by that time. Williams then went to work on earning a scholarship. Two years later, he was ranked the No. 12 junior college talent in America by SI.com — and offers from major-college programs came flooding in.

Williams choose North Carolina, even though the Tar Heels were returning four starters on their defensive line in 2011. But Williams, now an obsessive workout junkie, won a starting job as a junior.

"I think I worked harder than other guys because I had to go through so much to get there," Williams said.

He finished his junior season with 54 total tackles, seven tackles for loss, 2½ sacks, an interception, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble. NFL scouts suddenly were interested, but Williams decided to return for his senior season in Chapel Hill, to earn his degree as well as sharpen his football skills.

"Honestly, I didn't know much about him when I got there," said coach Larry Fedora, who took over the North Carolina program before the 2012 season. "He was contemplating going into the draft as a junior, but he decided to come back. I told him, 'It will be the toughest year of your life.' "

After Williams said he was coming back, Fedora told him to drop 20 pounds, from 335 to 315.

"He jumped into it with both feet," Fedora said. "I don't know if I've ever seen a kid work that hard. Plus, he was a tremendous leader. All of his hard work made him that way."

Last season, Williams produced six sacks and 13½ tackles for a loss in 12 games.

"There were points in our games when we needed something to happen and Sly would dig down deep and make that something happen," Fedora said. "But you know the thing that he's most proud of? It was earning his college degree in communications."

Williams, the former factory worker, the kid who was kicked out of high school because he couldn't wake up in time for class, was on top of the world. "For me, that was one of my goals in life, football or no football," he said. "When I got that sheet of paper in the mail, it was an unbelievable feeling. It warmed my heart because I knew I had done something special with my life. From Backyard Burger to a diploma from the University of North Carolina? When I left school, I could tell myself that I did everything I came here for."

Dad is the family's MVP

When he received a call from the Broncos on Thursday night, informing him that he had been selected with the 28th pick of the draft's first round, the first person he hugged was his dad.

"The biggest thing that motivates me is my father," Williams said. "My father is a guy who tried to raise four kids by himself. The biggest thing that motivates me today is my family."

Friday, the man who once pleaded with his son to get up in the morning and go to school, could barely express his feelings because he was so happy.

"I'm on a cloud," Williams Sr. said. "Just thinking about everything that came before, and everything he's done to get here, makes me very proud. That's my son who's got a college degree. That's my son who's going to play in the NFL."

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